What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

Kate · 27-09-06 06:09:25

Adagio wrote:

Kate, welcome to the forum!
Sounds like we're in the midst of learning the same lesson. Not an easy one for me.

Thanks!

And it's not an easy lesson. It's something I've been learning for just the last week and a bit. Have faith in yourself and things will pull through.

gala · 27-09-06 07:50:29

kate - can i ask whether you are a contributor or a sponsor?

Kate · 27-09-06 08:16:00

I wish I were a contributor - unfortunately I'm lacking the balls to actually do it.

gala · 27-09-06 08:37:00

with a little determination, anyone can have balls. but i guess we need voyeurs just as much as we need exhibitionists!

Cate · 27-09-06 09:42:14

The crushing lesson that I am not the most important thing in the world

Burlesque · 27-09-06 13:50:48

Kate wrote:

I wish I were a contributor - unfortunately I'm lacking the balls to actually do it.

I don't know if anyone has told you that what you need to make an IFM contribution isn't actually ... ah, forget it.

Cate wrote:

The crushing lesson that I am not the most important thing in the world

That one came as quite a blow to me too.

Burlesque.

Kate · 28-09-06 01:18:40

Burlesque wrote:

Kate wrote:
I wish I were a contributor - unfortunately I'm lacking the balls to actually do it.
I don't know if anyone has told you that what you need to make an IFM contribution isn't actually ... ah, forget it.
Burlesque.

Bahaha. I meant courage, but to me it's a little more than that.

nihpuad · 28-09-06 05:50:02

Kate wrote:

I wish I were a contributor - unfortunately I'm lacking the balls to actually do it.

I see several folks have beaten me to the punch on the obvious joke; I'll just add that for IFM contributors, lack of balls is, IMHO, "a feature, not a bug"!!

BTW, love your avatar.

The_West_Wind · 29-09-06 08:29:55

One piece of advice I will share from life is this:

The world's most dangerous man is a man who has nothing to lose.

Burlesque · 29-09-06 09:31:01

The_West_Wind wrote:

One piece of advice I will share from life is this:
The world's most dangerous man is a man who has nothing to lose.

Right. Lock me up. It's a fair cop.

Burlesque.

Siobhan · 29-09-06 14:50:50

oh great. now you've come back to denigrate your friends, have you?

Burlesque · 29-09-06 19:33:14

I have come back in order to learn how to use smileys where applicable to avoid acting like a tactless barbarian, something which I am unfortunately exceedingly prone to. Mea culpa, as one of the more civilised members of the forum usually says in these instances. I shall endeavour to continue learning from her. (Note the absence of smileys here, as I am not being ironic at present.)

Besides, you all know I'm a bastard.

Burlesque.

Last edited by Burlesque (29-09-06 22:59:44)

The_West_Wind · 30-09-06 10:38:56

Siobhan wrote:

oh great. now you've come back to denigrate your friends, have you?

Was this directed at me, Siobhan?

The_Elfman · 30-09-06 17:18:02

The_West_Wind wrote:

Siobhan wrote:
oh great. now you've come back to denigrate your friends, have you?
Was this directed at me, Siobhan?

This particular peice of badanage was aimed at our prodigal son Burlesque, TWW.

Elfman

antiface · 02-10-06 10:25:44

Not to break the banter, but:

You can never go back. You can never undo a deed, take back heartbreak or lost trust, and you can never go home again. So, enjoy the moments while you can, even the bittersweet ones.

Sorry for the interruption, back to the far more intelligent speakers...

Burlesque · 02-10-06 19:12:27

Welcome to the forum, Antiface, and don't underestimate your intelligence: you are of course exactly right. I wish I could follow your advice, but since I can't and you obviously can, that makes you one of the more intelligent speakers in this forum, at least more intelligent than I am. Did that make sense? It probably would if I were intelligent enough to phrase it correctly .

Burlesque.

Dynamo · 04-10-06 20:32:35

My most valuable lesson is to always do what you want to do cos you mite not get the opportunity again and you'll regret it forever. I can think of loads of things I had the chance to do and didn't and have regretted it ever since.

Cheers. Dynamo.

Adagio · 12-10-06 01:24:31

I've been wanting to post on this subject right from the start but am just now having the opportunity to do so....

One of the lessons I continue to learn not only through this forum but through my friends, old and new, is that there can be a great deal of pleasure in celebrating our diversity or a great deal of heartache, dissention, and pain if there is no tolerance of others’ ideas and beliefs and even more pain if there is no respect for persons. I am learning that it is possible to agree to disagree and still be in relationship with the one I disagree with. For someone (ME!) who struggles with seeing the world in black and white, good and bad, right and wrong, this is a challenging lesson. But I’m finding that my world is opening, expanding, growing as I allow myself to not judge others and as I cease to presume that everything and everyone can neatly fit into the boxes that I create. As I think I’ve mentioned in another thread, I’m finding that the world has much more gray than it does black and white. For many reasons black and white feels safer to me than gray. But somehow, I’m finding that gray feels more alive.

Burlesque · 12-10-06 05:25:11

The Billy Joel song "Shades of Gray" springs to mind. It has a little something to say on the matter.

Grey is a good an elegant colour, and I'm all for it, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't more of a black and white person. There seems to be very little I can do about this, so I try to alleviate the starkness with a sense of humour, such as it is. To my mind, life is just too dull to be taken seriously.

A friend of mine (you may know him - it is he of the fair countenance, woodland dwelling predilections and pointy ears) has challenged me to write a post containing no flippancy whatsoever; he has even offered me the princely sum of £10 if I can do it. I will not take him up on it, I think. No, that would be like stealing candy from a tram-ridden baby, just not fair. It's easy to be dry, serious and self-important. Cheerfulness is the real trick, grating as it may be on some nerves, Elven or otherwise .

Burlesque.

Siobhan · 12-10-06 05:28:37

Adagio wrote:

One of the lessons I continue to learn not only through this forum but through my friends, old and new, is that there can be a great deal of pleasure in celebrating our diversity or a great deal of heartache, dissention, and pain if there is no tolerance of others’ ideas and beliefs and even more pain if there is no respect for persons. I am learning that it is possible to agree to disagree and still be in relationship with the one I disagree with. For someone (ME!) who struggles with seeing the world in black and white, good and bad, right and wrong, this is a challenging lesson. But I’m finding that my world is opening, expanding, growing as I allow myself to not judge others and as I cease to presume that everything and everyone can neatly fit into the boxes that I create. As I think I’ve mentioned in another thread, I’m finding that the world has much more gray than it does black and white. For many reasons black and white feels safer to me than gray. But somehow, I’m finding that gray feels more alive.

(emphasis mine.)

Adagio, I, too, continually learn this. I love how you've phrased this journey of yours -- which is no doubt why i've quoted the whole thing!, and I know I'm not alone. Thanks.

The_Elfman · 12-10-06 10:34:36

Become children again. They have no diversity issues.

stammering · 12-10-06 10:55:44

I walked down a street and fell in a hole. I got bruised and badly shaken. It took me ages to get out.
I walked down the same street and fell in the same hole. It still took me ages to get out.
I walked down that street again and fell in the same hole. This time I was out of it in a flash.
I walked down that street yet again. There was the hole where I last saw it. I walked around it.
I walked down a different street.

dyslexius · 24-10-06 00:31:05

I've only been around these parts for three weeks, and I'm just now getting around to reading this thread. This comment from the thoughtful Adagio jumps out at me like a freight train towing a pond of fragrant lilies:

Adagio wrote:

...I’m finding that the world has much more gray than it does black and white. For many reasons black and white feels safer to me than gray. But somehow, I’m finding that gray feels more alive.

I live in a society where people seem more and more to need the apparent serenity that results from designating things as either black or white. It's convenient. Doing so allows one to simply move on, to resolve one's place in respect to some external force, thought, or situation; then to go on, no longer having a need to think about it (and no one embodies this delusional trait more so than our/my cowboy president).

Adagio, you're among the best.

--dyslexius

nihpuad · 24-10-06 06:28:37

dyslexius wrote:

I live in a society where people seem more and more to need the apparent serenity that results from designating things as either black or white. It's convenient. Doing so allows one to simply move on, to resolve one's place in respect to some external force, thought, or situation; then to go on, no longer having a need to think about it (and no one embodies this delusional trait more so than our/my cowboy president).

Amen, brother... especially that last part about our "all hat and no cattle" president!

I've been reluctant to bring up politics in the polite company of this forum, but I've been wondering how aware our friends in Australia, the UK, and Europe are of our upcoming elections (no doubt more so than we ever are of their elections!). Given the deleterious effect that Republican government in the U.S. has had on the rest of the world, I'd guess folks are at least vaguely interested.

I happen to live in Connecticut, which has three congressional seats that could conceivably change hands (from Republican to Democratic), which in turn could have a big impact on whether we have "regime change" in Washington DC. Apropos of the topic, one lesson I've learned (from my daughter and her best friend, who've gotten politically active despite being busy teenagers) is that it's simply not sufficient to sit on the couch and yell at the TV. So I've gotten involved, volunteering to do phonebanking and canvassing for the campaigns of local Democrats (one of the congressional candidates lives in my home town), donating to campaigns, participating on political blogs, etc.

Dunno yet if it'll do any good, but at least I feel like I'm trying to be part of the solution, instead of passively being part of the problem.

BTW, my daughter participated in this little bit of political theater, helping to build the float you see in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzmVIzpfkwc

dyslexius · 24-10-06 07:37:09

dauphinb2 wrote:

...I've been reluctant to bring up politics in the polite company of this forum, but I've been wondering how aware our friends in Australia, the UK, and Europe are of our upcoming elections (no doubt more so than we ever are of their elections!). Given the deleterious effect that Republican government in the U.S. has had on the rest of the world, I'd guess folks are at least vaguely interested.

They are interested, and they are knowledgeable (and from what I can tell by reading this forum, our American brothers and sisters here are quite enlightened as well). The BBC covers our socio-political circus quite thoroughly, especially, I suppose, due to the sad fact that Mr. Blair has gotten himself so wrapped up in a "partnership" with our so-called neo-conservative oligarchy. His legacy would have been so positive otherwise, and I feel badly for the Brits because of that. In general, I think the rest of the world is better aware of US politics than much of our own populace, as the self-righteous attitude of the ditto-heads in the administration has rubbed off on their minions, all (0.5 x voting public) of them. Our military adventurism ironically obscures the fact that we are a nation of isolationists, i.e., the big ostrich among the industrialized nations -- in spite of lip service to "globalism" and our brilliant NAFTA Treaties, etc.

I apologize in advance if my in-yer-face expression has offended anyone, but when the tea kettle boils, I like to let loose a bit of steam. I feel a little better now.

--dyslexius (and your daughter's KISS float is a hoot)

PS: I wonder if any of the Brits here (or anyone else, of course) can help me : I think it was The London Guardian newspaper -- the day after the US presidential election two years ago -- that had a memorable front page (or maybe it was the first page of an interior section). I understand it was black with white letters that spelled out: "Oh, God." Does anyone here know where I might find a copy of the image? I've been on the Guardian website and turned up nothing, and I've done web searches to no avail. I've been wanting to put that image on the front page of my website. Failing that, if someone could describe it to me, I could probably replicate it adequately and achieve the same effect :-(

Last edited by dyslexius (24-10-06 07:47:32)

#26 27-09-06 06:09:25

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#27 27-09-06 07:50:29

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#28 27-09-06 08:16:00

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#29 27-09-06 08:37:00

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#30 27-09-06 09:42:14

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#31 27-09-06 13:50:48

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#32 28-09-06 01:18:40

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#33 28-09-06 05:50:02

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#34 29-09-06 08:29:55

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#35 29-09-06 09:31:01

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#36 29-09-06 14:50:50

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#37 29-09-06 19:33:14

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#38 30-09-06 10:38:56

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#39 30-09-06 17:18:02

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#40 02-10-06 10:25:44

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#41 02-10-06 19:12:27

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#42 04-10-06 20:32:35

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#43 12-10-06 01:24:31

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#44 12-10-06 05:25:11

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#45 12-10-06 05:28:37

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#46 12-10-06 10:34:36

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#47 12-10-06 10:55:44

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#48 24-10-06 00:31:05

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#49 24-10-06 06:28:37

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

#50 24-10-06 07:37:09

Re: What is the most valuble lesson you've learned in life?

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